The hitherto usual gear selector lever shift position recognition by means of position sensors, e.g., according to the Hall principle, is inflexible concerning the currently common guiding of the selector lever in a plurality of shift gates and intermediate positions. One sensor is frequently provided for each selector lever position, and the presence of a large number of sensors leads to higher costs and reduced reliability.
A shift detection device with a shifting means, a magnetic signal transmitter and with a signal reception device is known from DE 197 49 330 C2. A sensor array comprising at least two magnetoelectric converters is provided as the signal receiver, and magnetoresistive sensor elements can be used as converters. The signal transmitter, coupled with the motion of the shifting means, is a magnet, which cooperates with the magnetoresistive sensor elements, and the sensor elements are arranged in different planes that are arranged at right angles in relation to one another. The shifting means is mounted pivotably and has two lever arms on both sides of the mount, the magnet and the sensor elements being arranged in the area of a free end of one of the lever arms.
The drawback of this arrangement is that the magnet travels over a relatively great distance during the actuation of the shifting means, so that the signal receiver also must occupy a relatively large space.